Shippers’ Council tells Marine & Blue Economy Minister, Oyetola to give establishment of National Fleet urgent attention.
Says venture will grow Nigeria's GDP by $5.4 billion annually
Segun Oladipupo
Nigerian Shippers’ Council on Wednesday, called on the Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola to revive the moribund national fleet.
The Council made the call during the visit of the Minister to the headquarters of the Council in Lagos.
The Council said that the fleet would increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in excess of $5.42 billion annually.
Speaking on behalf of the Council, Director of Strategic Planning and Research, Rotimi Anifowose, while highlighting the prospects of the industry, asked the minister to establish national fleet for the growth of the sector.
According to him, establishment of National Fleet would engender a lot of benefits to the sector as well as the national economy.
According to the Port Economic Regulator, floating of a national fleet is a matter of utmost urgency for the country to achieve the purpose of the blue Economy.
“Matters requiring urgent attention. For us in the Council, we will appreciate that your office will help us to look at establishment of National Fleet
“The federal government appointed the Shippers’ Council as the secretariat of the National Fleet Implementation Committee while the Executive Secretary/CEO is the Chairman.
“The proposed fleet if done, is expected to address the following challenges of loss of job, loss of freight earning and others.
“The National Fleet bring over $5. 42 billion is expected to be added to the Gross Domestic Product, $1.62 billion accruable to government from Corporate Income Tax through the Joint Venture Company (JVC)
“Over 1 billion foreign direct investment would come into our economy but most importantly, we will have 9.1 billion in state revenue
“We look forward to Nigeria having its own fleet so that we can harness these benefits.”
The Director of Planning also reeled out some of the achievements of the Council saying that the agency has been able to ensure the inclusion of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as economic Regulator in the concession agreement
“Suffice to say that prior to now, the Shippers’ Council was not included in the concession agreement and it is recognized as port economic Regulator in that arrangement.
On the implementation of the Nigerian Port Process Manual (NPPM), he maintained that the Council has been able to intervene for Shippers’ saving them up to N5 4 billion within two years.
